Israeli forces began storming Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City in the early hours of this morning, three days after starting a siege of the complex. A witness inside the hospital told the BBC’s correspondent in Gaza that soldiers entered the building and “fired a smoke bomb that caused people to suffocate,” while a Palestinian journalist at Wafa reported “intense shelling and gunfire” in the hospital’s vicinity. In a post on X, the IDF said it is carrying out a “precise and targeted operation” against Hamas in a specific area of the hospital and that it has no intention of harming civilians.

Israel has accused Hamas of having a headquarters underneath the hospital, a claim that both the armed group and the hospital’s management have vigorously denied. Thousands of displaced people and hundreds of patients and medical workers remain inside the complex, and have reportedly been prevented from leaving by the surrounding Israeli military.

The Biden administration is backing Israel’s claims, but is calling for restraint. Go read White House spokespersonJohn Kirby’s blather if you want.

PROJECT NAKBA 2.0

Ethnic cleansing 101: Israeli officials are once again calling for international support of its drive to turf hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their land in Gaza, but this time it’s being dressed up in the language of humanitarianism.

An appeal to the liberals: Former Israeli ambassador to the UN Danny Danon and Mossad insider Ram Ben-Barak make their case for ethnic cleansing-lite in the opinion section of the Wall Street Journal. They’re imploring Western governments to take in Palestinians “who have expressed a desire to relocate.”

Smotrich cos-plays Mother Teresa: The piece got the thumbs-up from Netanyahu’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who called for a “humanitarian” solution in a social media post yesterday. Palestinians should be allowed to “voluntarily immigrate” from their land, he said.

A rebuke from Egypt: In a statement, Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry “categorically and utterly rejected” Smotrich’s call to displace Gaza’s civilians and accused the Israeli government of deliberately starving them to force them off their land.

Remember: The Israeli government has drawn up a blueprint for the forcible displacement of Gaza’s 2.3 mn residents into Egypt, and has lobbied foreign governments to back the plan. President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and key members of his government have forcefully rejected the idea, with Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly last month threatening a military response. Israel has so far displaced 1.6 mn civilians, more than two-thirds of Gaza’s entire population.

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